Representing Mike Hu, District 21 (Waikiki-Kapahulu)

One of the pioneers of creative/original writing on the Internet, Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii thought he could make the greatest impact stimulating the thinking in Hawaii by running for the legislature. Whether one wins or loses an election, he thinks concerned citizens must persist in articulating the best ideas on what government can be, because it is the clarity of thinking in society that is the underlying basis of government -- and not merely the individuals in office.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

It's A Changing (Evolving) World

Even forms that were successful in their time, eventually become outmoded and obsolete -- so one should not let that happen to themselves. Individuals can be quick to adapt and respond -- unlike the institutions that will invariably have to fail -- because they cannot change quickly enough, since they are designed to last as they are -- until they fail. They become the dinosaurs of the current age. Thus in seeing the demise of institutions like Sears and the shopping malls that were hugely successful in their day and age, there's very little they can do to remain at the top forever -- just as anyone else. They too will come and pass. That is life -- and the only reality we have known.As long as we change, adapt and evolve, we can remain vital to the times we live in -- and the failure to do so, and respond to those challenges, obviously makes one less fit for continued survival -- and life at its best. So that is the challenge throughout our lives -- to be at one's best, and to regard any deviation from that experience and path, as clear signals that one must change their course -- or perish, either quickly, or slowly over time and age. Fortunately, that means using all the tools and strategies one now has access to -- and not just the original equipment one was born with and previously acquired. One must even be prepared to let everything accumulated thus far go -- to enable oneself to move on -- without all that previous baggage. Unfortunately, many cannot let all that go -- because that has now become their security, and everything they know. But what they don't know, is far greater than what they previously have accumulated all their lives.It is said that information (the known) doubles every year -- or more accurately, evolves into something better, and supplants the old -- integrating all the previously known -- especially in the integrating mind -- that is not simply accumulating separate pieces of information and keeping them separate and unrelated pieces of information, but integrating each into a greater, more encompassing, powerful whole. That is the mind of the 21st century -- and not simply the accumulative and acquisitive mind of all previous generations. That's how life has changed and evolved. Undoubtedly, it is a whole new world -- and not simply the old world repeated with each succeeding generation -- as the institutional and bureaucratic minds would have us believe and perpetuate.Naturally, such institutions, are the last to know what is going on -- even as much as they will insist that they know all that can be known. Most know not to make such foolhardy and outrageous claims -- but there will always be the self-chosen few who claim that advantage over all the others. They will insist that they alone own the monopoly of that information -- and by extension, all information -- as the self-appointed guardians and gatekeepers of that function for society, and all others. In such a scheme, no one is allowed to think for themselves -- and investigate independently, which has been the basis of scientific inquiry and freedom of thought for the last five hundred years -- since the Dark Ages.That is the reason they are called the "Dark Ages" -- when nobody was allowed independent thought. There were institutions and hierarchies for the proper distribution of any information, and particularly, any publication -- which made possible the widespread dissemination of what could be transmitted only by word of mouth previously. So to live now in an age when any publication is possible, requires a whole new response to those realities and inputs, but most importantly, with how one integrates it into a greater, more powerful and effective whole of comprehension -- that is the greatest possibility of that individual's life.Thus the individual is not just a surrogate of that society, but is the indivisible (individual) of all of life at the present time -- that subsumes the old divisions and demarcations of previous consciousness. Thus life as we've known it before and been defined, is now surpassed -- by those individuals attaining greater integration of the present collective consciousness of all that has been previously known, but not so well integrated by the institutions and defenders of jurisdictional turf. By definition, that is the deliberate fragmentation of information into the impenetrable specialties and hierarchies allowed to only a few -- which now puts them at a disadvantageous in an era of evolving open information and sources -- as they wait for authorization for access and approval.By then, it is too late. The moment of truth has passed -- and now they are responding to the past -- that has long passed. It is not a world of scarcity -- in which any product or service is welcomed gratefully, but a whole new world of abundance in which every extravagance and extraneous, must be filtered out before draining precious attention and effort. That is unmistakably the changing and evolving world we now live in -- that brooks no room for distraction and time-draining error. One needs to get it right as soon as possible -- or getting it wrong, will drain years of life and resources before one resumes the rightful path of growth and improvement -- and sadly, a few, will never recover but plunge ever deeper into hopeless despair, and their own dark ages -- cut off from the light (information).So it seems as though they are feeling their way around in the dark -- rather than seeing the light of the whole (picture) -- and acting as though most of the the information is unseen and unknown -- when it is merely yet to be discovered by themselves. Often, there is resistance to such discoveries -- because it would be having to change themseves -- which is what vital human beings are doing all the time -- constantly changing, adapting, and evolving. What they knew yesterday, is not as important as what they are discovering today.And so the old model (paradigm) of a person full of knowledge, gives way to the one who can discover momentarily and at will, that which they need to know -- even if they have to invent (it) themselves. In so doing, they are inventing themselves. But they are not the only ones. That is distinctively what the "survivors" are doing -- who are the thrivers of any particular time and circumstances. That is their survival advantage: they prosper and thrive, and not just for reproductive success -- but in every aspect of their lives. Those successes, are what is replicated -- in the much greater evolutionary story.If it works, it is not discarded equally with all the strategies and patterns that do not work. There is a decided bias towards the successful -- and away from the failing modes of life. That ending cannot be unwritten -- but it is not random. It is very deliberate and intentional. Some are just more aware of it than others -- who haven't a clue as to what is going on, yet thinking they must impose their limited world view on all the rest -- feeling that they are the chosen, for no particularly good and justifiable reason. As they will stubbornly insist, that is just the way it is "S'posed to be" -- for they know not what reason. That is the logic of brute force -- thinking that alone is enough to ensure any desirable result. The counter to that is a better understanding -- of all involved. But the brutish mind will think that simply more force is adequate to any task -- and not bother with any understanding. It has no time for understanding first -- because it is so far behind with their present course, and continuing in that manner. There is no time for questions -- and serious inquiries and reflection. And that is their problem -- not only in that thing, but in everything they do -- and fall further and further behind, when just a moment of reflection and insight, might make the problem disappear entirely. Invariably, they're not ready for that -- simplicity, and rethink. They are too attached with their accumulations and memories --to abandon them for a fresh start -- even if it means a vastly better life. Nobody else can pull them out of their downward spiral. They have to want it for themselves -- first. If people want to succeed, they will -- in all the ways and moments of their lives. Nothing is ever too small to care about -- and give their full attention to. That fullness of attention, allows change to work through them -- as they offer no resistance to what is, and live in that moment -- as the only reality that matters. Life carries them along -- rather than they having to reinvent the wheel and everything there is, by themselves. That is the hard row to hoe.